Abstract : In this communication the ground handling fleet management problem at airports is considered with the aim of improving aircraft service at arrival and departure while the operational cost of the ground service fleets is taken into account. The complexity of the co nsidered problem, as well as, operational considerations lead to propose an on-line decentralized management structure where the criticality of each aircraft demand for service is evaluated using a fuzzy formalism. Then after detailing the proposed collaborative scheme between ground handling fleet managers, airlines and airport authorities, a heuristic approach is proposed to solve each fleet assignment problem. A case study considering a large airport is discussed.